Peer Effects in Investment: Evidence from Early-tenure CEOs
研究发现，新任CEO因缺乏公司特定信息且面临严格评估，更倾向于模仿同行的投资决策，这种同伴效应在CEO能力较低、监管较强或公司投资信息质量较差时更为显著，且模仿行为能提升未来业绩。
This study examines whether Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) incentives to rely on peers’ investments vary over their tenure at a firm. Newly appointed CEOs (hereinafter ‘early-tenure CEOs’) often encounter a lack of firm-specific information and are subject to rigorous evaluation. Therefore, when making investment decisions, they tend to seek more efficient and readily accessible external information, such as investment decisions made by peer firms. We find that the positive association between a focal firm’s investments and those of its peers (termed ‘peer effects’) is stronger when early-tenure CEOs manage the focal firm. Furthermore, this peer effect is stronger when managers possess greater incentives to rely on peers (i.e., lower ability and stronger monitoring) or when firms’ investment information quality is poorer (i.e., early stage of their life cycle, greater investment volatility and uncertainty). We also find that geographic proximity and the sharing of common board members or auditors may serve as mechanisms facilitating peer effects. Finally, we document improved future performance for early-tenure CEOs who align their investment decisions with those of peers. This study contributes to the existing literature by illustrating that manager-level characteristics can influence heterogeneity of peer effects and underscores the benefits of peer effects.